1. Cleaning the Olives. Stems, twigs and leaves are removed and the olives may or may not be cleaned with water to remove pesticides, dirt, etc. Rocks and Sand will quickly wear out a centrifugal decanter or oil separator, reducing life span from 25 to as little as 5 years.

2. Grinding the olives to paste Stone Olive Mills : Stone rollers or wheels roll in circles on a slab of granite to grind the olives into a paste

Advantages

can be adapted to olive and pit size to optimize paste characteristics

doesn’t cut the skin, releasing less chlorophyll

formation of larger size drops of oil, minimizing mixing times

paste isn’t heated

less phenols so less bitter oil

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